What Separates Me and You

Conrad was speechless.

Lewis watched Josephine silently, his eyes not leaving her even a second.

After finishing two more bowls, Josephine finally put her cutlery down with contentment while she glanced at Lewis gratefully for allowing her to have so much food.

Lewis gazed at her with mixed feelings.

There was a knock on the door. Lewis withdrew his gaze and looked over.

It was Seth. He swept his gaze around the ward before entering, his signature smile plastered onto his face. "Looks like I came at the wrong time. Did I interrupt your dinner?" Conrad was tidying up the table. "You have good timing. We just only finished."

He kept away the food container. He never knew Josephine had such a good appetite. She didn't seem much of a great eater before this. With the amount Josephine had been eating, Conrad wondered if she was a kitten in disguise. On the contrary, she seemed to be a tiger in disguise now-an avid foodie with eyes only for food.

Once Conrad was done tidying the table, he said to Lewis, "Sir, I'll be taking my leave. Please have a good night's rest. The doctor says there won't be a problem as long as you don't have another fever after this. You can cease worrying."

Seth chuckled at his words. "Worry? I'm not sensing anything of that sort on him."

Conrad glared at him. Seth had always put him on the spot. Ignoring Seth, Conrad took the food container and left the ward.

Lewis didn't return to the bed. Instead, he sat on the sofa and asked Seth, "Do you have a cigarette?"

Seth directly pulled out a cigarette and lighter before chucking them at him, adding in a kind reminder, "Go and smoke by the window. The ward has a smoke alarm."

He wasn't Conrad. Lewis' health was not on his list of concerns. In fact, Lewis' well-being had nothing to do with him.

He was here solely out of curiosity at Conrad's words. After all, Josephine had changed drastically.

Lewis rose to his feet, went to the window, and opened it. Leaning against the window, he lit a cigarette.

Seth sized up Josephine from head to toe and back up several times before asking, "Do you know who I am?"

Josephine tilted her head and scrutinized him. She shook her head to indicate she didn't recognize him. Her answer was just as he expected. Seth sat on the sofa and looked at her with a vague curve on his lips.

He was interested to see the extent of change in this mute's temperament.

Lewis glanced at Josephine, a cigarette between his fingers.

She sat there, bewildered, staring back at Seth as though they were in a staring contest and whoever blinked first would lose. Eventually, Seth yielded and went to the window, joining Lewis for a cigarette.

His gaze fell on the dorsal area of Lewis' hand, and he could clearly see a large bruise. "She did this?"

Lewis smirked. "I'm still alive, thanks to her."

Seth nodded. "Indeed. It'll be all over the news if Chairman Alvarez passes because of a cold and a fever."

Lewis finished his cigarette. He put it out on the window pane before casually hurling its butt out. "Why are you here?"

Seth spoke straightforwardly, "To have a good laugh."

Lewis glanced at him and returned to the bed. Before, he would rather die than be admitted to the hospital. Now, he had started valuing his own life out of nowhere.

Seth pulled a lollipop from his pocket and showed it to Josephine, smiling. "Would you like to go somewhere fun with me?"

Josephine glued her eyes to the lollipop in his hand. She snatched it from him and nodded.

Lo and behold! Someone he could win over with a mere lollipop. No wonder that guy over there was staying in the hospital obediently. If she had the guts to pull out his intravenous line today, who knew if she would find it in her to poison his food tomorrow?

Seth continued asking, "So, you don't care about him anymore?"

Josephine heard him and looked back at Lewis, who was sitting on the bed emotionlessly. She thought that he looked pitiful. She looked back at the lollipop in her hand and, with the utmost reluctance, returned it to Seth at long last.

Seth chuckled faintly and didn't take it from her. "I'm just joking. Take it. I'll get you another one tomorrow."

Seeing his warm smile, Josephine momentarily fell into a trance. She took a great liking to him at that moment.

If anyone were to ask her to rank her liking of these men, Seth would definitely be the runner-up, and the guy on the bed would come in last.

Seth couldn't hold in his laughter. Guffawing, he walked toward Lewis and told him the meeting results of these two days. He said, "Oh, another thing. The next hearing for Daphne's case is next week."

"Got it."

Seth didn't stay. He left right after he said these words.

With a thoughtful look, Lewis watched him leave, his eyes gleaming unpredictably.

Seth's smile vanished when he was out of the ward.

Although he and Lewis were in a mutually beneficial relationship, they knew well what the other had in mind.

Seth wouldn't be on Lewis' side all the way. After all, he was here to balance both sides of the rivalry. His objective was not to have either side win but to ensure both sides suffered losses. He was also aware that Lewis always had his guard up around him. That man had never trusted him from the beginning.

Sucking on the lollipop, Josephine sat before Lewis again.

Lewis wasn't in the mood to entertain her. He leaned back and shut his eyes, going into deep contemplation.

Lewis was far more obedient than the last time. He stayed in the hospital for seven days and only left when he had fully recovered.

The notion of looking for Quintin nagged at the back of Josephine's head. Moreover, she couldn't eat or sleep well in the hospital, so she was keen on leaving. She was happier than Lewis upon knowing he was getting discharged.

Conrad came to the hospital to fetch them and drove them back to Styx Mansion.

In the study, the first question Lewis asked Conrad was about Quintin's current situation.

Conrad answered honestly, "He's currently under confinement. There's no knowing when he'll be free."

"Get him to sign the divorce papers."

Conrad nodded. "Sure, I'll send the papers to Mr. Fowler briefly."

"What about Kiran?"

"He's still in the hospital, probably almost fully healed, but he's not leaving the hospital. I wonder if he's up to something?"

Lewis listened to him and walked to the window with his hands in his pockets. He saw the anti-theft grill and frowned. "Get someone to remove these grills."

Sure."

Conrad came to the door and jumped at the sight of someone standing there. "Mrs. Alvarez, how long have you been here?"

Hearing this, Lewis looked back.

Josephine grasped the doorframe with both hands and extended her neck to look into the room sneakily. She ignored Conrad and approached Lewis. Standing before him, she looked at him with her puppy- dog eyes as though she had received unjust treatment in some way or the other.

"What's wrong?" asked Lewis.

Josephine rubbed her stomach, looking pained.

"Stomachache?"

Josephine nodded and stretched her hand to show Lewis the blood on her fingers.

Lewis' mind went blank briefly. He stared at her fingers for several seconds before coming to his senses. "Turn around."

She obeyed, and he lowered his eyes, only to see a patch of red on her white pants.

He resolved the mystery of where the blood on her fingers came from.

Lewis' temple throbbed. Josephine was having her menstruation!